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Messi: Overtaking Maradona is not important

Lionel Messi has played down his achievement of surpassing Diego Maradona in Argentina's all-time goalscoring list.

The 25-year-old overtook the legendary playmaker with a hat-trick for his country in a 4-0 friendly win against Guatemala on Friday to bring his tally to 35.

Messi now sits joint second in the list alongside Hernan Crespo, but still has a long way to go to top Gabriel Batistuta's record of 56.

However, he insisted after the game that achieving individual milestones are not his priority.

"Having overtaken Maradona is not important. The main thing was to end this friendly well as a team, which isn't easy ahead of the holidays," the Balon d'Or holder said.

The Barcelona forward surpassed Maradona after another sensational season at club level, in which he scored 58 goals in all competitions despite struggling with injury towards the end of the campaign.

Messi will now be able to enjoy a break before pre-season commences after he played in Argentina's final FIFA World Cup qualifying match until September on Tuesday, which ended in a 1-1 draw with Ecuador.